Monthly Archives: December 2010

We are about half-way to a generation since 9/11, meaning about twelve more years until the same level of undergraduate affection for al Qaeda as the Commmunists enjoyed in 1966 (a generation since the beginning of the Cold War. Presumably al Qaeda’s command is trying to survive as a federated operational entity until this time.

Also presumably, al Qaeda should be looking at ways to stress the federal government while attempting to radicalize some percentage (10% 20%) of non-Muslim fellow travelers within the US. If they are smart about this, they would begin targeting TSA agents and attempt to align their rhetoric with the widespread revulsion the American literatti feels toward the TSA. For instance, our basic human rights to dignity in attempting to live our religion in peace is threatened by some elements of the US government, just as Americans’ own basic human rights to dignity with respect to not being sexually assaulted during travel is also threatened by some elements of the US government.

Al Qaeda has until now lacked the sort of ‘fifth column’ friends that the Soviets had in American Marxists. If they are smart, they will be looking to change that.

The thing about Wastelands is that it is very uneven. Perhaps it is because the post-apocalyptic genre is so wide, or so bare, but for every great story there are three or four or five which is a chore to read. Joe Sherry and Slippard do a great job breaking down the stories individual without spoiling anything, so instead I will focus just on the tales that make this volume worth it.

“The End of the Whole Mess,” by Stephen King. King is a great writer, always fun and easy to read.

“The People of Sand and Slag,” by Paolo Bacigalupi. Perhaps the most disturbing book in the collection, as Bacigalupi seems to understand where genetic engineering is going.

“Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels,” by George R.R. Martin. A Cold War parable. Anyone who loved golden age Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke will feel at home here.

“Judgment Passed,” by Jerry Olten. An odd story as it deals with the rapture from the point of view of atheist astronauts who were out of the solar system at the time.

“Mute,” by Gene Wolf. You need to read this. Mute, alone, makes buying this book worth it, even if you just buy the Kindle edition and read it on your computer. Mute is only ten pages, but that includes a short intro in which Neil Gaiman gives the following advice:(1) Trust the text implicitly. THe answers are in there.
(2) Do not trust the text farther than you can throw it, if that far. It’s tricksy and desperate stuff, and it may go off in your hand at any time.
(3) Reread. It’s better the second time.

Actually, it’s more confusing the second time. The third time I really paid attention to why the protagonist could be thinking her thoughts. And I drew a map.

(Mute tends to have negative reviews in summaries. If you only read it once it’s disturbing, but you completely miss what is happening.)

“The End of the World As We Know It,” by Dale Bailey. The end of the world is not the most important thing to happen to the protagonist, to a local consequence of it is. A wonderful story of grieving.

“A Song Before Sunset,” by David Grigg. Reads like an episode of The Twilight Zone, in the best sense.

If the same book for the same price was just these stories, it would have been a great deal, well worth the $10.85 paperback price. Don’t feel obligated to read the rest.

People across the world would be rightfully outraged if the Federal Reserve enforced some bigoted and hateful policy, such as prohibbitting banks from offering Sharia-compliant banking, or from otherwise evangelizing the power of finance to certain religious communities.

This meme has been making the rounds again, that Americans are ignorant yokels for thinking that Christianity is older than Judaism. But as is often the case with debunkeres, the debunkers are more arrogant and just as unknowledgable as the debunkee, as a great argument can be made that Christianity is, in fact, older than Judaism.

Both Christianity and Judaism are based largely on religio-legal corpora, which are called “Testaments” in Christianity and “Torahs” in Judaism. In Christnaity these corpora are the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament.” Both in their ages of composition and their internal chronology, they are seperated by the Roman occupation of Palestine — the Old takes place beforfe, the New takes place during. In Judaism these corpora are the “Written Torah” and the “Oral Torah.” While both works claim to be the same age (given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai), the Oral Torah clearly contains elements from Semetic pre-history while others date it to between the Destruction of the Temple and the middle-Dark Ages.

In other words, Christianity as a religion based on Two Testaments appears to have coalescened somewhere around AD 100. Judaism as a religion based on Two Torahs appears to have coalescend somewhere around AD 600. Christianity is half a millenium older than Judaism.

Both Christianity and Judaism are descended from an ancient religion, often called “Temple Judaism,” like early Christianity (but not like Judaism) was centered around a priesthood that controlled the teaching authority of the faith.